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Warning: Parameter 2 to SyndicationDataQueries::posts_request() expected to be a reference, value given in /home4/sattek/roguepolitics.com/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php on line 2982013 June « Rogue Politics

The UN estimates that there are are 200,000,000 missing girls in the world today. That number may actually be smaller than reality since China boasts of aborting 336,000,000 unborn children, a majority of those girls. Add in unreported cases of female infanticide, as well as the statistics from India and other countries, 200 million might […] . . . → Read More: A hurting world . . . → Read More: A hurting world

NRCC copies creepy OFA tactics, but with less truth… The NSA apparently has not forsaken all integrity – in truly ecumenical fashion, they appear to be sharing data with the NRCC as well as the IRS and OFA. Lots of folks, including Jim Geraghty at NRO have noticed that former Obama campaign […] . . . → Read More: NSA Shares Data with NRCC?? . . . → Read More: NSA Shares Data with NRCC??

Regular readers know that one of my main goals is to preserve and promote tax competition as a means of restraining the greed of the political class. Heck, I almost wound up in a Mexican jail because of my work defending low-tax jurisdictions. As you can imagine, it’s difficult to persuade politicians. After all, why […] . . . → Read More: Tax Havens Are Good for High-Tax Nations . . . → Read More: Tax Havens Are Good for High-Tax Nations

I note that some of the damsels that hang out with us old timers have succumbed to the attraction of the bicentennial of the publishing of Pride and Prejudice by Miss Jane Austen. In fact I note one young lady has found a site that tells her she would be Miss Elinore Dashwood, which appears to make sense […] . . . → Read More: Historical Party Time . . . → Read More: Historical Party Time

Saturday afternoon was a special afternoon for Kyle Gibson, the Twins’ highly touted rookie righthander. Making his major league debut against Kansas City, Gibson’s first pitch was hit by Alex Gordon. The good news for Gibson is that Oswaldo made a nice catch down the left field line. One pitch, one out. Two pitches later, […] . . . → Read More: Kyle Gibson’s Saturday in the park . . . → Read More: Kyle Gibson’s Saturday in the park

I don’t think I am wrong to say the greatest composer for the piano was the great Romantic composer and piano virtuoso, Fredrick Chopin. To help end a pressure filled week for some, this piece by Chopin should be welcome. In fact, an… . . . → Read More: Piano Fantasy . . . → Read More: Piano Fantasy

One major criticism of the E.U. has concerned its “democratic deficit.” The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, has taken most of the criticism because the bureaucrats are not elected. Even though the European Council consists of elected state executives, the state legislatures are viewed as “closer to the people” and therefore more democratic. At the E.U. level, the European Parliament is the most directly democratic, as the EP’s representatives are directly elected by E.U. citizens. Therefore, one means of reducing the “democratic deficit” has been to increase the Parliament’s authority relative to those of the Commission and the Council. Lest it be thought that this solution has no drawbacks, the case of whether E.U. ships should be permitted to be beached for recycling in South Asia illustrates a problem.

Where Ships Go to Die

Beaching old ships for recycling in South Asia is cheaper but can result in leaks of toxic chemicals.

Image Source: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Facing pressure from South Asian governments, the E.U. state leaders on the European Council opposed a ban on beaching over the objections of environmental groups. Facing a different political dynamic, the European Parliament favored the ban. After weeks of negotiations, the parliament and council agreed to a compromise. Beaching a ship would be allowed as long as “fixed structures” are involved. As this wording is notoriously open to interpretation, clarity was sacrificed for the sake of a compromise.[1]

Interpretation may not even be necessary, as the E.U. has no language in the compromise to prevent ships from changing their flags, Patrizia Heidegger of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform observed. “So the stronger language won’t mean much,” she added.[2]The compromise looks a bit like Swiss cheese. Lest this flaw be attributed solely to politics, that the Council had to negotiate with the Parliament on the matter means that the solution to the “democratic deficit” is at least partly to blame. That is to say, public policy can suffer from efforts to reduce the deficit.

Of course, that the E.U. consists both of states and citizens means that the Council and Parliament both have vital roles in the E.U.’s government aside from the issue of democracy in a federal system. So public policy being diluted in the negotiation process is also a necessary part of having a federal union of states with direct effect. Even if no “democratic deficit” existed, in other words, the involvement of both the Council and the Parliament, and thus the negotiation, would be on firm ground. Even so, this “cost” of having a federal union can be minimized by the principle of subsidiarity, wherein legislation is to be accomplished at the lowest governmental level possible. In the case of the U.S., the problem of “lowest common denominator” federal legislation can in principle be mitigated by the fact that Congress’s powers are enumerated, and thus limited, with the residual sovereignty residing with the state governments. The problem is thus when too much legislation occurs at the federal level, whether in the E.U. or U.S.

America does not have a tax problem. We have a bloated government problem. A series of scandals has pushed tax collection into the limelight. Anger over tax collection draws people into the freedom movement. Tax reform is likely to be a majo… . . . → Read More: Open Meeting . . . → Read More: Open Meeting

– The Game is Not What You Think; It is Much Larger – I believe the best ideas are concepts that can be applied effectively within multiple disciplines. The Doctrine of Rapid Dominance (DRD) fits this description with practical uses from philanthropy… . . . → Read More: The Left’s Political Shock and Awe . . . → Read More: The Left’s Political Shock and Awe

My friend Sherry added this to the comments on the last post (EDL or Sharia?, Really?) But I’m going to bring it up here because, I do have a certain number of British readers and this is indeed what your government looked like this week. You all know that we honor your troops even as […] . . . → Read More: From the Comments . . . → Read More: From the Comments

In my single days, I had a few different roommates. Some were awesome and still good friends (Hi, Ana!) Some were… Interesting? I had one roommate who had a cat that died. She then suggested we get cats together, so we adopted two kittens, Keaggy (my cat) and Herbicide (her cat–because he ate everything.) Both […] . . . → Read More: Saying goodbye . . . → Read More: Saying goodbye

Well, we seem to have ourselves a bit of controversy. You see the EDL is doing a tribute to the soldier beheaded in Woolwich for Armed Forces day. Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer were going to join them. In a remarkably obtuse move (even for a British government) Home Secretary Teresa May has made Britain look […] . . . → Read More: EDL or Sharia? Really? . . . → Read More: EDL or Sharia? Really?